NATOA Survey: Impact of State Video Services Legislation

NATOA SURVEY: IMPACT OF STATE VIDEO SERVICES LEGISLATION
[SOURCE: National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors]
The National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors released results of a survey of the impact state video services legislation has had to date on communities and subscribers. Finding includes:
1) Rates have not decreased according to 98% of those surveyed.
2) Incumbent basic rates have increased $1.12 for analog and $1.51 for digital.
3) Most new entrants do not market a Basic Service Tier nor report rates, which makes consumer comparison shopping difficult at best.
4) Consumer complaints remain high with 74% of respondents reporting the same level of complaints, except as they relate to the availability of choice of provider.
5) The majority of LFAs reported that on incumbent systems, the number of PEG (Public, Educational and Governmental) access channels has remained constant (97%) and that the technical quality has remained the consistent (89%). PEG channel positions on new entrant systems were reported as different from the incumbents by 39% with worse or poor technical quality reported by 36% on new entrant systems. PEG funding was the same for 44% of the LFAs, whereas funding increased for 12% and actually decreased for 22% of respondents.
6) Overall, 82% of LFAs do not believe that state video legislation is having a positive impact on their community; 90% believe that PEG programming is not being treated in an equitable manner by new entrants; and 97% believe that customer service has not improved under state supervision.
http://www.natoa.org/2008/03/natoa-survey-impact-of-state-v.html